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Wednesday 21st January 2009 The sun was shining, but the wind was chilly and the ground still very cold with both Puckles Pond and Fox Pond frozen throughout the day. Four volunteers turned up to find Rangers Mark and Gary plus two assistants already at work. They'd cut back the blackthorn and brambles on both sides of the milk-crate path earlier in the day, and had built a fire to burn some of the lopped off vegetation. We cleared up the rest of the branches and twigs, creating two big piles in specially cut enclaves which hopefully will become home for various small creatures in due course. There didn't seem to be many flowers nor much animal activity, apart from round the bird table which had just been replenished with seed mix. Blue tits, great tits, robins, collared doves, long-tailed tits and dunnocks are all regular visitors and can be watched from the comfort of the bench opposite under the willow tree. Wednesday 18th February 2009 This month, on a cool cloudy afternoon, Ranger Mark had six volunteers to assist him, though again it was the same old faces. A few new younger ones would be very welcome! Following all the snow and rain, for the first time in years all the ponds seem to be full to the point of almost overflowing. True, the water didn't look very clean in a couple of them, but at least there should be enough to last through the spring so that newts and frogs have a choice of where to breed. The paths and meadows are fairly dry, but ground-water can be seen wherever there are dips. There wasn't a lot of wild life visible, though we heard plenty of bird song and spotted two mallards on Willow Pond and another on Prewer's Pond. There are lovely hazel catkins on the High Ridge, an early sign of spring, and a magnificent selection of lichens (orange, green and blue-greeen) throughout the Reserve. These are easy to spot on the older branches at this time of the year with no leaves to hide them, and Ranger Mark took photos of the more colourful ones. As usual there were plenty of thrown away plastic bags, drink cans and sweet wrappers to be removed. It would be so much easier for us if people didn't throw them into the depth of the brambles from where they're difficult to extricate. We need to try and source some litter-pickers with extra-long handles. More of the solitary bee chambers that we spent much of last year preparing were buried in appropriate places. These were the ones made up of plastic straws in old tin cans (using melted wax to keep them in place). We also (rather bravely as it turned out) struggled thru the blackthorn to check some of the old nesting boxes. Most of them were no longer in good condition, but some of them are ten years old, so so that's only to be expected. The ones that were still ok were cleaned out and restrapped back in place. It's likely they have been used by blue tits. Wednesday 18th March 2009 It was a beautiful spring day, very sunny for this time of the year, and a clear blue sky, ideal weather for working out in the open. Rangers Gary and Mark were already parked up when we volunteers arrived, five of us this month, including a new member! The Reserve is starting to blosssom and the birds were singing gloriously, with Mark being on hand to identify the sound of chiffchaffs, great tits and a wren. Most of the ponds are still very full, especially Rosebay Pond (the one by the main entrance), and Prewer's Pond is also looking ok for a change, but no sign of any frogspawn. There are purple violets scattered around in the more open woodland areas along Plotlands Way (on the left coming from the main entrance). The most unexpected sight was a peacock butterfly. They don't usually appear until April, but apparently people have been seeing them in their gardens during the last week. Most of the afternoon's work was focused on the East Meadow. Gary attached the Allen Scythe to the front of its motorised carriage and started cutting the overgrown grass. Meanwhile we gathered up the cuttings into three large piles round the edge of the meadow, which will provide warmth and shelter to smaller animals. Unfortunately the ground was so rough and the centre area so full of brambles and young blackthorn that the cutting couldn't be completed, so a return visit with a bigger machine is needed. Wednesday 15th April 2009 Five volunteers turned up on a lovely afternoon, birds were singing, and the hot sun brought out the butterflies. There were several peacocks, some of which could be seen in pairs doing their mating flights, and a few (large?) whites. A speckled brown and an orange tip were also sighted. Along the milk crate path were large numbers of bee flies which we photographed and hope to identify. The ponds all looked healthy and there were plenty of common newts to be seen which had returned to the water to breed. (Photos were taken to try and identify which type they were, smooth or great crested). In Puckles Pond there were large numbers of caddisfly larvae on the pondweed - there are nearly 200 species found in this country, but it's often possible to identify the family from the type of case the larvae build. The ones we saw had cases made of square bits of vegetation placed at right angles to each other in a rather untidy vertical manner, so they were probably members of the Limnephilus family. The blackthorn is now covered in white blossom and there are daffodils along the woodland path. The prettiest sight of the afternoon was on the edge of the East Meadow, seeing a large bunch of yellow primroses next to a small clump of bluebells that were just beginning to open. We are still short of someone with a good knowledge of local wild flowers, and could do with help in identifying the numerous smaller flowers which have appeared over the last few weeks. As for the work party, Ranger Gary was busy mowing down the new growth encroaching on the paths, while Ranger Mark took the lead in putting up some more nesting boxes. We also checked out the insect boxes that we'd made last year and at least some were being used, though we hadn't taken into account that they would attract the attention of woodpeckers, so we need to resecure a couple of them. Wednesday 20th May 2009 We nearly always seem to be blessed with good weather for our work parties, and again it was a very pleasant day, though quite humid. Seven volunteers turned out this month, including a new face, so it was one of our better turnouts. Ranger Mark brought along a few cutting implements and most of us got to work clearing back the side growth and overhanging branches along the paths, while Mark had a go at clearing some rubbish from the ponds. There were lots of flowers to be seen, including stitchwort and herb robert (cranesbill). The briars and brambles are now out and the purple flowers of the common vetch are beginning to appear. There seemed to be a lot more bird song than usual, including warblers and wrens and chiffchaffs, but not many butterflies, though we saw a small copper, a few whites (small and large) and what may have been a brimstone. All the ponds look fine, and Puckles Pond especially is full of activity. There were plenty of common and great crested newts beneath the surface, and several species of damselfly just above it. We were a bit perplexed by some small insect-like carniverous water creatures, which may have been free-swimming caddisfly larvae - the Rhyacophila is the only UK family which doesn't build cases to live in. There was also a grass snake swimming about on the far side of the pond with just it's yellow head showing, which seemed unconcerned about us watching it from the platform. The sight of the day had to be an egret which flew over. They're not uncommon in this part of Essex, but we rarely see them in the Reserve. Wednesday 17th June 2009 We had yet another nice summer day for the work party. Rangers Mark and Gary turned up along with five volunteers (one with his own strimmer). A good job was done clearing up the area near the Eastfield Road entrance, getting rid of the overhanging branches, cutting down the nettles and clearing the weeds from around the gate. It looked lovely when finished, but the doing of it would have been far more pleasant if there'd been less dog mess around. There was also some effort put into trimming back the side growth along the paths, but we didn't have enough time to do the walk down to Fox Pond at the Eastern end of the Reserve which is becoming overgrown. Hopefully one of the rangers will sort it out in time for our Crickets and Dragonflies Walk (which is on Sunday 28th June). There were plenty of damselflies and a few dragonflies skimming above the ponds, as well as whirlygigs and pond skaters on the surface of the water. We saw plenty of smaller butterflies, but there have been far fewer of the big colourful ones this year (tortoiseshells, red admirals, peacocks and painted ladies). Wednesday 15th July 2009 We had five (?) volunteers turn up to be met by Ranger Mark and a helper who were there with strimmers. A couple of us did a bit of flower spotting (with partial success) and then we raked up the grass from the sides of the path along the High Ridge. Wednesday 16th September 2009 It was a surprisingly pleasant afternoon following the previous couple of days of clouds and rain. There was a good turn out of volunteers, eight in all. While some of us struggled through the scrub into the wooded area in search of suitable trees to put up next boxes, others replaced the perspex in the notice board by the Eastfield entrance. We also managed to fit in some litter-picking. There was not a lot of wildlife seen, though we did find a large slug (species unknown) beneath a plastic container. Ranger Mark alerted us to the calls of a long-tailed tit and a green woodpecker and there were some late summer dragonflies still to be seen near Willow Pond (though it's a pond in nothing but name right now, as apart from a few muddy puddles from yesterday's rain it was dry). The various berries (hips, haws, brambles, and sloes) provided the usual splash of Autumn colour and the recent winds have brought down many of the still ripening apples and pears from the old plotland fruit trees. Wednesday 21st October 2009 [cancelled because of rain] Wednesday 18th November 2009 The day was greyish and windy, but not too cold. Ranger Mark only had two volunteers to assist him this month. We got to work sawing down some unsafe branches and trunks overhanging the path along the High Ridge. After that we did an inspection of the ditch running alongside the A127 which had recently been redug by workmen doing drainage maintenance. We had enough time left to do a bit of cleaning up round Puckles Pond, removing some of the rubbish and pulling out branches which had been thrown into the water. |